In Christoph Hein’s 2004 novel, Landnahme (Seizure of Land), the protagonist is portrayed, depending on the narrator, as an ethnic-German expellee from Poland, a party shock worker during Stalinism, an innocent dissident of the East German regime, or a wealthy investor after the fall of communism. While the work is fiction, the trajectory of individuals living through and surviving communism are remarkably similar to Hein’s protagonist.

Using the theme of the upcoming ASEEES national convention—“Revolutions”—the Center for Interdisciplinary Polish Studies (Frankfurt/Oder) and the Institute of Contemporary History (Prague) would like to invite papers which analyze personal biography and its reformulations during the revolutions of 1989.

At issue is the complex, often contradictory nature of resolving the past and prospering in the future in times of revolution and post-revolution. As is well known, many dissidents of state socialism became leaders of democratic states; jailers became the potential jailed; socialist managers became capitalist entrepreneurs. Even more conspicuous than the reversal of roles was the shift of roles: interpersonal and societal relationships were drastically—sometimes tragically—changed through the creation of new cultural and political hierarchies.

In light of new historiography on the transition from state socialism to free-market democracy, the organizers of these panels request short (max. 250 word) abstracts of papers on the political, social, economic, or cultural biography of individuals who actively witnessed and actively reflected on the revolutions of 1989. We are primarily interested in the lands between Russia and West Germany: how did individuals—whether they be party functionaries, grey-zone experts, dissident laborers, devoted teachers, concerned mothers—cope and survive the (mostly) peaceful revolutions of 1989. How did the overall social and political change—as well as the reflections on these changes—transform the perception of an individual’s own life and its narration?

We welcome abstracts from all fields of research (history, sociology, political science, literary studies, etc.). It is our expressed interest to explore biographies of 1989 with an interdisciplinary approach. Advanced graduate students and young professionals are also encouraged to submit.

Please note: we are unable to provide funding to the annual convention.

Please send a short abstract and brief CV by 4 January 2012 to keck@europa-uni.de .
Organizers: Mark Keck-Szajbel, Michal Kopeček